Girls -- United States -- Biography -- Juvenile literature
Susan B. Anthony found a world where a married woman could not do what
she liked with the property that she owned. Neither could she do as she
wished with the money that she had earned or received as a gift. She
could not even take charge of her own children if anyone objected. Miss
Anthony left a world where women’s rights in all these matters were
considered and where in four states women could help to make the laws.
The Nineteenth Amendment, giving women the vote, came later.
Miss Anthony devoted all of her time to public speaking. She traveled
from coast to coast, always making the most of every opportunity to
speak in behalf of the various reforms to which she devoted over sixty
years of her life. Sometimes she pleaded for the freedom of the slaves,
sometimes for temperance, but _always_ for her favorite cause—rights
for women.
Susan B. Anthony kept on pleading for women, no matter how much people
laughed at her. Gradually, the world began to see some reason in what
she said. To-day, all women who cast their vote, control their property,
and send their daughters to college, can thank the determined Quaker
girl who had such a large share in giving women their rights.
[Illustration]
Clara Barton—
The Girl Who Unfurled The First American Red Cross Flag.
The Barton family was made very happy on the Christmas of 1821 with the
gift of a baby girl. The four older sisters and brothers gave the baby a
royal welcome, though they little thought that this gift was also to be
a Christmas present to the whole world. This baby was Clara Barton,
called in Civil War times the “Angel of the Battlefield” and known by
all nations as the founder of the American Red Cross Society.
Baby Clara grew up to be the pet of the family, although no coddling was
allowed on the Barton farm in Oxford, Massachusetts. Each member of the
family wanted to teach her something, and Clara was equally eager to
learn.
Mrs. Barton taught her daughter to be level headed. Nothing could have
been worth more to the girl who was to be the first woman to carry
organized aid to the wounded on an American battlefield. Mrs. Barton
also taught Clara to sew, to cook, and to be an excellent housekeeper.
Clara was particularly grateful for this knowledge and had countless
opportunities to use it. Once a dying soldier whispered his wish for a
custard pie, crinkly around the edge, to remind him of home. With what
materials she could get together, Miss Barton made the pie and scalloped
the edge with her finger, just as her mother had taught her to do in the
farm kitchen.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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